FAMILY doctors are earning up to #250,000 a year under new contracts agreed by a "naive" Government, say critics.

GPs are now paid huge sums of money for carrying out routine work, which has led to an overspend of #300million.

One expert said: "GPs are being paid more money, but overall we have not seen a big increase in productivity."

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the health think-tank the King's Fund, added there was little evidence people were getting healthier because of the new payment system.

"It does not look like a terribly good deal at the moment for the taxpayer and the patient," he said.

Joyce Robins, of the pressure group Patient Concern, added: "It has cost our naive government hundreds of millions more than they expected. GPs are now paid piecemeal - a few thousand for reaching this target, a few thousand for that. It has created an atmosphere where it seems that every time a GP picks up a pen or looks at a computer, it must have a price tag. Patients complain to us that many Ps are so concerned with ticking all the boxes that will bring extra money - checking blood pressure, cholesterol and so on - that there is little time left for their current health problem."

Yesterday, Tony Blair was unrepentant on the new contracts, which came into effect in 2004.

The Prime Minister, sweating profusely as he gave a speech on the NHS in London, said: "Is not it actually a good thing that we are paying our people well if they are upping the quality of the service? I think it's good."

Mr Blair added that the process of turning round the health service had reached "crunch point".

And he insisted that now was the moment for the Government to "hold our nerve" in the face of criticism.

Dr Prit Buttar, a GP in Abingdon, near Oxford, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the new contract was proving very lucrative.

The partners in his practice earned over #100,000 a year after expenses - a rise of around 20 per cent.

He said his practice now received funds for monitoring cholesterol and blood pressure levels of patients with heart disease. He added: "It is something that we were doing already." Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "The Government got it badly wrong.

"They didn't know what the GPs were doing and when the costs came through it was a third over their estimate."

He added: "The Department of Health's incompetence has directly led to financial crisis."

But Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt defended the new contract for doctors and the higher pay.

She said: "There are thousands of people who are alive and well today as a direct result of this new contract.

"This is an enormous improvement in health care, and it is the kind of preventive health care that the public want."

Dr Hamish Meldrum, of the British Medical Association, said the average GP earned more like #100,000 a year.

He claimed the salaries were justified because more health checks meant fewer people dying of heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

He added that some GPs were earning more money because they were running "super surgeries".